Reflections on MLG Anaheim

                MLG Anaheim from the World of Warcraft side was incredibly misleading. For the most part, we were drowned in a sea of matches that ultimately came down to either one of two things: are Button Bashers playing or did x6 just roll someone? The x6 versus BB during the round robin play was incredibly exciting and personally, I was on the edge of my chair with my nose damn near in the computer screen trying to see who would pull out the win. The event seemed to have everything you’d want in a competition: a decent amount of comps, some fresh faces, a villain and the underdog.

                So many matches

                Game after game, many of which were only played because of the “what if?” scenarios that could develop because of the format selection, it managed to become extremely tedious. While I personally sat through just about every match, it’s easy to see why a casual viewer would have dropped out halfway through and ultimately missed some of the highlights. Quite frankly, there were too many games. MLG should take a hint from the way the Blizzcon tournament works and just toss up a bracket, which would cut down on games. Leaving the system the way it is means the viewers at home will miss some of the games, notably the RLS mirror where the Warlocks (Yog and Azael) actually played Destruction.

                As for the upsides, watching and listening to Button Bashers is much more exciting than anyone else. While the community at large will more than likely agree with the fact that they were far and away the most skilled, their intensity is what can serve to attract more fans. If you turned around, turned the game sound off and just listened to what was going on at the computers, Button Bashers are the only team that you’d be able to identify (though Azael was getting pretty loud at one point and x6 was pretty up there when it came down to the Final Four, especially against Button Bashers).  The point is, if some of the other teams developed some sort of personality that fans could recognize at events, it would go a long way with attracting new fans. We don’t see their faces regularly like with the Halo streams, so a new way to identify them with a constantly changing platform would be great.

                Beast CLEAVE!

                No recap, good or bad, would be completely without addressing x6. Beast cleave is scary.What’s even scarier is that they were capable of gibbing people in relatively weak gear. The AP difference for many classes from s5 to s7 with epic gems can easily be over 1,000. So the mages that got rolled so thoroughly to the rogues that fell over once evasion was down would’ve probably died even sooner. Scary. Even the times where teams managed to pull out wins against x6 or came close, they had to thoroughly outplay them. Take the final match of EG versus x6 during round robin; Azael managed to chain fears left and right keeping pressure off of Smatinz and allowing Tenderloin to manage his mana somewhat efficiently. Smatinz ran out of cooldowns and dropped. They simply overpowered people. Even Button Bashers with their incredible switches and well-crafted openers would eventually fall over from being pushed so hard. Beast cleave was nerfed a little while ago but the nerfs seemed more utility oriented rather than blatant damage that makes the comp power through people.

                So what do you nerf? None of the pieces are so brazenly overpowered that scream nerf. When you see people concerned about the comp, the anthem is usually “nerf beast cleave.” The synergy is so certifiably ridiculous that it just isn’t clear what you should do to them. Perhaps a time cut on the seemingly endless spirit wolves and a reduction on the passive damage boost associated on The Beast Within for hunters?

                Calls for nerfs may wind up toned down a bit, especially with blizzard developers seeing top tier competition manage to put down the powerful comp. The sword definitely is double edged, though, as players will still have to deal with current gear Beast cleave and the sizable damage difference it does provide them.

                 Disappointment

                We watch these matches for entertainment, which basically means we’re looking for good competition. SK.US managed to get rolled fairly often and Complexity was decidedly disappointing as well. For one, it can’t be attributed to composition as Button Bashers are playing RMP and have been much more successful. Going back to the growth and expansion of World of Warcraft as an e-sport, these types of performances just don’t help, at all.

                The stream quality sucked, there’s really no way around that. I understand what Halo is proven to be the more popular attraction but why in the world do we have to shell out money to watch the stream without straining our eyes? Commentating was up to snuff, thankfully, and surprisingly enough some of the questions they pulled from the ‘ask the cast thread’ were pretty good.

                Watching Beast Cleave during the double elimination finals was really disappointing. It seemed like once they had lost to Button Bashers they began to question themselves somewhat and SK.EU just drilled them. Both teams they managed to 3-2 come back when it truly counted and beat them. Good stuff, but disappointing for the team that went undefeated during round robin play.

                Ultimately though, missing the RLS mirror where the warlocks finally pulled out destruction was incredibly disappointing, especially when the matches were apparently really close and exciting.

                Final Thoughts

            BHMS was a pleasant surprise, even though they were only the second best shadow cleave at the tournament. Regardless, they came a long way as basically an unknown team and making it to the final four. Hats off to them and hopefully complexity or someone else continues to sponsor them as they’re definitely only going to get better (nobody is spectacular at their first LAN as history will prove).

            Orange was already designated the mage Jesus, but this tournament really turned me into a Button Bashers fan. They’re incredibly fun to watch; playing against SK.EU on Blade’s Edge it was amazing to see the patience and situation awareness they displayed whenever a member of the shadow cleave would take a hop off of the bridge. The yelling before every kill is just the icing on the cake for me. Every team should have a signature and Button Bashers definitely has theirs cemented.

                The finals were great, easily the two most “skilled” teams in the tournament playing it out. The Koreans were great to watch, as they had been in every other series beforehand. The outrageous pillar humping was pretty humorous to watch. Congratulations to the Koreans for their win at MLG Anaheim.

Tags:

World of Warcraft

Report Post